YOUNG people at The Derby High School are making exceptional progress ­— and that's official.

Not only is the school number one for progress, its GCSE results were above national and local averages, placing The Derby School at the top end of Bury's "school league tables".

The department for education has released its annual secondary school performance tables detailing how every school did in last summer's GCSE results.

Bury Times:

The Derby High School was top of the table for progress ­— which measures how far pupils make at the end of primary school to the end of secondary school compared to their peers who start Year Seven at the same ability across the country ­— and in the top half of all Bury's schools for the number of pupils leaving with five or more good GCSEs including English and maths.

Children made above average progress ­— the only school in the borough to score an above average progress score.

A total of 62 per cent of pupils left The Derby High School achieving the benchmark.

And the school was the second best performing local state-school for the numbers achieving the EBacc, a Government flagship measure, which takes into account only academic subjects ­— English, mathematics, history or geography, two sciences and a language.

Bury Times:

(Pupils at The Derby High School)

Headteacher Helen Hurbert said: "We are a school that is committed to raising aspirations and instilling resilience in our students, consequently we are absolutely delighted with our results highlighting the progress students make over their time with us at The Derby High School.

"We are so proud of them and all they have achieved. I would also like to acknowledge the commitment of our incredibly hard working and dedicated staff who have worked tirelessly to support and guide the students to achieve their best."

Overall in Bury, the number of young people leaving with five or more good GCSEs stood at 56 per cent in line with the national average.

The numbers achieving the Ebacc stood at 23 per cent in line with the national average.

The best performing state school was Woodhey High School for the numbers of young people leaving with five or more good GCSEs including English and maths, which stood at 68 per cent.

At four schools pupils made average progress, at six schools children made below average progress and at two schools young people made well below average progress.

Bury Times:

Bury Grammar School was once again penalised for teaching the IGCSE in some subjects. IGCSEs are often taught at leading public schools as they are seen as preparing pupils better for A-level studies.

Despite the Government tables, the actual results saw 94 per cent of entries being graded at 9-4, and 31 per cent graded 9-8.

Headmaster of the boys' school Devin Cassidy said: "We were absolutely delighted with our pupils' GCSE results which were achieved by a combination of shear hard work, high expectations and a real belief by teachers that the pupils are capable of great things.

"It is a lesson to those about to sit their GCSEs this Summer, that by having a positive attitude to their academic studies they will be successful and in many cases out-perform what they think they are capable of.

"It is also a reflection of what can be achieved when the partnership between home, school and pupils is aligned and mutually supportive of each other."

Headmistress, Mrs Jo Anderson added:"Many congratulations to all our pupils who worked so hard to achieve their incredible GCSE results last summer.

"We simply couldn't believe the number of the long thought nearly 'impossible to achieve' grade 9s on their results sheets in August: an astonishing 141 of them!

"Our teachers were also thrilled for a very significant number of pupils who totally outperformed expectations, achieving several grades better than IQ assessments of their 'innate' ability suggested. This 'value added', as it is called, is noteworthy testimony to the talents of our pupils, hard work and dedication of our staff, and the resulting magical combination that is an education at Bury Grammar School! All of us are over the moon that pupils did so well and are now thriving in our Sixth Form. Exciting times surely lie ahead for them."

A spokesman for Bury Council said: "Good and steady progress is being made in Bury schools, and 60 per cent of our secondary schools are now rated good or outstanding.
“This has come about because of decisive and rigorous action taken by the local authority to drive up school standards across the borough. We have completed and implemented a major review of our school improvement policies and procedures, tightening up our support – and our challenge - to schools and working with them to secure better results.
“While there is still much to do, our results are recovering strongly and we are determined to resume our place as one of the best education services in the land.”